OPINION: Makonda’s cleanness drive should be given a new impetus
Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Paul Makonda is in a crusade to make his region clean. Of late he has employed the services of SUMA JKT.
Officers, mostly youthful, have been deployed at various streets in the city and whenever they spot a person littering, they arrest him and send him to their centre in Kamata area.
In order to bail yourself out after you have been arrested by these officials, you have to pay a Sh50,000 fine, part of which is commission that goes to the askaris as allowance.
Recently, RC Makonda introduced another form of punishment. He directed the askaris that when they arrest rich people driving expensive cars, they should not fine them because they have more than enough money to pay the fine.
He said such people should be handed brooms and ordered to clean a section of areas that they littered. According to Makonda, fining such people is counterproductive because money is not a problem to them.
What Makonda is doing is continuation of campaigns which have been going on for some years now to beautify the human settlements in the country. The campaign aims at making sure that cities and urban centres across the country are hospitable.
As an inducement, each year a council which has done better in maintaining cleanness is awarded. Though I have not heard if those who are not performing well are reprimanded.
In enhancement of the campaign, the Vice President launched a national cleanness drive. Through this drive, a day in a month was set aside for people to clean their environs.
Usually, one weekend was picked during which normal activities in the morning were halted for people to engage in cleaning their areas. I don’t know if the system continues.
There was a time when Moshi Municipality was famous for enforcing cleanness rules and other municipalities started to copy. Now, many municipalities are clean thanks to such endeavours.
It is only prudent that Makonda should focus his energy on this issue because as the face of the country, Dar es Salaam should set the standards in all categories.
On the other hand, Makonda’s campaign might help the major commercial city in the country do away with perennial cholera outbreaks. It is a shame that cholera might be endemic in any part of the country, leave alone Dar es Salaam.
So, Dar es Salaam residents and other people who frequent the city from upcountry should support Makonda and his team to make Dar es Salaam a hospitable city.
But there are many things which are missing to make the campaign comprehensive. For instance, lack of garbage collection system is hampering many people from participating in the campaign. It also subjects some people to doing mistakes which they did not intend.
For instance, lack of dustbins in city streets makes it impossible for people to assist in garbage management.
Sometimes people to throw away trash randomly not because they are arrogant, but because there is no place where they can dispose it.
Let the authorities help wananchi to support this campaign by ensuring that necessary infrastructure is available and working effectively.
To instil a sense of cleanness can easily be done through keeping the environs clean every time.
In a situation where people collect the garbage but the authorities fail to collect and dump them in designated areas, might send a signal to people that the authorities do not care about keeping the city clean.
As stated earlier, lack of wastebaskets in streets put people in awkward situation especially if they want to properly dispose something.
I believe that after being informed many people are ready to support the cleanness drive because they know it is beneficial for them.
